Stamford restaurateur runs for a cause

Eve Sullivan

Updated 9:08 pm, Friday, November 1, 2013

Lushe Gjuraj trains for the New York City marathon along High Ridge Road in Stamford, Conn., on Wednesday, October 30, 2013. The marathon will be held November 3, 2013, and Gjuraj is running to raise money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Lushe Gjuraj trains for the New York City marathon along High Ridge...

Lushe Gjuraj trains for the New York City marathon along High Ridge Road in Stamford, Conn., on Wednesday, October 30, 2013. The marathon will be held November 3, 2013, and Gjuraj is running to raise money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

Lushe Gjuraj trains for the New York City marathon along High Ridge...

Lushe Gjuraj trains for the New York City marathon along High Ridge Road in Stamford, Conn., on Wednesday, October 30, 2013. The marathon will be held November 3, 2013, and Gjuraj is running to raise money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Lushe Gjuraj trains for the New York City marathon along High Ridge...

Signs at Parkway Diner on Wednesday, October 30, 2013, announce Lushe Gjuraj's plans to run the New York City marathon November 3, 2013. Gjuraj is running to raise money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Signs at Parkway Diner on Wednesday, October 30, 2013, announce Lushe Gjuraj's plans to run the New York City marathon November 3, 2013. Gjuraj is running to raise money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Lushe Gjuraj trains for the New York City marathon along High Ridge Road in Stamford, Conn., on Wednesday, October 30, 2013. The marathon will be held November 3, 2013, and Gjuraj is running to raise money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

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STAMFORD -- While training for this weekend's New York City Marathon, city resident Lushe Gjuraj becomes overwhelmed with emotion.

She thinks about her mother and niece's husband, who both died of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the white blood cells responsible for producing antibodies.

"Sometimes I just cry," Gjuraj said. "I think of them every step I take. I'm like `Mom, this is for you.' "

But as her tears flow, so does the money from relatives, friends, neighbors and her customers at the Parkway Diner. They are helping Gjuraj raise funds for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, which aims to find a cure for the disease.

To run in the race as part of the MMRF's power team, Gjuraj has to raise at least $3,000. So far, she's raised $6,000 and counting.

"I'm still waiting for some good donations that I'm going to get," Gjuraj said, sitting in a booth at the diner. "My goal is $10,000."

Gjuraj grew up in Kosovo and came to the U.S. as a teenager. She got married, became a mother and opened several restaurants, including the Parkway Diner on High Ridge Road.

While working at the diner, the 44-year-old met some customers who ran marathons, and it soon became her goal. She repeatedly says she was "never a runner."

"I didn't really know what a marathon was until I came here," she said of the 26.2-mile road race. "We didn't have marathons."

After being turned down once for the New York City Marathon, Gjuraj went through the MMRF and was automatically accepted. She immediately started getting in shape.

"I just started training in May," she said. "I'm enjoying it now."

Though Gjuraj is running with two men in their 70s, (Marshall Ackerman and Neil Dreyer) who have run more than 30 marathons, she started slowly with 4- and 5-mile runs. When she upped the runs to 8 miles, she said she felt the same.

By Labor Day, she ran a 12-mile race. On her last run, she reached 22 miles.

"It's all in here, when I put my mind to it," Gjuraj said, pointing to her head.

That seems true for Gjuraj, who learned to speak English from watching television and learned to ride a bicycle just 10 years ago.

On Monday, Gjuraj was dressed in a black running outfit and pink sneakers, with her hair in a ponytail. She was heading out for a shorter run, just five miles.

Gjuraj said she eats pasta the night before a big run and drinks a lot of water. After long runs, she prepares an "ice bath" and soaks for 15 minutes.

"I didn't think it was a big deal," she said. "I really have more respect for runners than I ever did."

Gjuraj said her time for a half-marathon was 2 hours, 9 minutes, so she wants to do about 4 hours, 20 minutes for the full 26.2 miles.

Gjuraj is getting assistance from her 8-year-old daughter, Martina, who has been making rainbow loom bracelets and selling them to her friends for the research foundation. They're also selling them at the diner.

"We sold at least $800 worth," she said.

With multiple myeloma, collections of abnormal plasma cells accumulate in the bone marrow, where they interfere with the production of normal blood cells. The disease causes kidney problems, bone lesions and hypercalcemia.

Gjuraj said it was difficult watching two family members die from this disease and she hopes they can find a cure. She said many customers have lost loved ones from one cancer or another.

As the marathon approaches and she continues raising money, Gjuraj said she feels like she's doing something good.

"It was really a goal of mine and then my mom died and it all came together," she said.